CURSO: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SMALL CHILDREN
SIGLA: LET007I
CREDITOS: 10
MÓDULOS: 02
REQUISITOS: SIN REQUISITOS
CARÁCTER: OPTATIVO DE PROFUNDIZACIÓN
DISCIPLINA: LINGÜÍSTICA


I. DESCRIPTION

Students in this course will gain experiential understanding of the challenges involved in designing and implementing English as a foreign language for children before literacy. The students will analyze the notions of bilingualism and biliteracy that can orient programs for foreign languages in preK, kindergarten and the first three years of EGB in Chile. The students will analyze strategies to create different types of bilingual environments at home, in day care centers and in the first years of school. Foreign language methodology for young learners has to take into account the insights of second language teaching research as well as the distinctive characteristics and needs of the children at each level of their cognitive, emotional, social, psychomotor development. In particular, students in this course will work in groups creating and evaluating materials and activities that emphasize communication as the governing idea in the foreign language curriculum and classroom practices at the first stages of Primary and Primary School.


II. OBJECTIVES

1. Students will understand fundamental processes in children’s second language development and in the acquisition of communication skills.

2. Students will discuss and analyze the implications for teachers and care takers of such concepts as emergent literacy and literacy development.

3. Students will learn criteria and strategies adequate to facilitate foreign language acquisition in preschoolers and young children.

4. Students will develop their own material and activities or adapt commercially produced material to address the needs, the abilities and cultural background of a group of specific students they have identified.


III. CONTENTS

1. Early Childhood Development.

1.1 Physical Development.

1.2 Socio-Emotional Development.

1.3 Cognitive Development.


2. Theories of Language Acquisition.


3. Adults as Language Providers during Early Childhood.

3.1 The role of Adults as Language Providers.

3.2 How can Language Providers support Literacy development both at Home and in School.

3.3 The importance of Baby Talk and Maternal Talk during Early Childhood.

3.4 Effective Linguistic Interactions between Adults and Children to Enhance Language Development.


4. English as a Second Language During Early Childhood.

4.1 Theories of 2nd Language Acquisition.

4.2 Considerations for Working with Young English Language Learners.

4.3 Second Language for Preschoolers.

4.3.1 How can Language Providers Enhance English as a Second Language during Early Childhood?

4.4 The quality of the Language input and the Adult-Child Interaction.


5. Strategies to Promote English as a Second Language during Early Childhood.

5.1 Daily Routines; Experiential Learning: Storytelling; drama; Song and Rhymes; Play and games; TPR; Technology.


IV. METHODOLOGY

- Lectures.
- Reports based on assigned readings.
- Short assignments and discusión.
- Projects of application.


V. EVALUATION

- Journal.
- Oral presentation.
- 1 Research Paper.
- 3 Tests.


VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boeree, George Language development 2003.
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/langdev.html

Bredekamp, Sue. Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs. Naeyc Series # 234, 1997.

Coltrane, Bronwyn. Working with Young English Language Learners: Some Considerations. 2003
http:// www.cal.org/resources digest/030coltrane.html

Curtis, Kelly & David Kolb, The Theory of Experiential Learning and ESL. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol.III Nº9, September 1997
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Kelly-Experiential/

Churchill, Susan & L. Zolinda Stonerman. Correlates of Family Routines in Head Start Families. ECRP: Volume 6 Number 1: Spring 2004
http://ecrp.uluc.edu/v6n1/churchill.htlm

Churchill, Susan & L. Zolinda Stonerman. Dickinson, David & Patton O. Tabors. Beginning Literacy with Language: Young Children Learning at Home and
School. Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co. Baltimore, USA: 2001

Erickson, E. H. Identity Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton, 1968.

Fillmore, Lily Wong y Catherine E. Snow What Teachers Need to Know About Language, 2002.
http:/eric.ed.gov/ERICDOCS/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000000b/8’/24/65/08.pdf

Gonzalez, Philip. Becoming Bilingual: First and Second Language Acquisition, 2000.
http: headstartinfo.org/English_lang_learners_tkt/bilingual.htm

Kelly, Curtis & David Kolb. The Theory of Experiential Learning and ESL. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol.III, Nº 9, September 1997.

Lindqvist, Gunilla. When Small Children Play: How Adults Dramatize and Children Create Meaning Early Years, Vol. 21, Nº 1, 2001.

Perraudeau, Michel. Piaget Hoy: Respuestas a una controversia. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México: 1996.

Reschke, Kathy L. “Baby Talk” Family Life Month Packet 2002.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/flm02/FS08.html.

Rowe, Meredith L. Barbara Alexander Pan, and Catherine Ayoub “Predictors of Variation in Maternal Talk to Children: A Longitudinal Study of Low-Income
Families”. Parenting Sciencia and Practice. Volume 5, 2005.
http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327922par0503_3?journaICode=par>

Schütz Ricardo. Vygotsky and Language Acquisition. 2004
http://www.sk.com.br/skvygot.html

Singleton, David. Critical Period or General Age Factors

Shipley, K. and McAfee, J. Assessment in Speech Language Pathology: A Resource Manual 2nd edition. San Diego: Singular publishing Group, Inc. 1998.

Slavin, Robert E. Educational Psychology, Theory and Practice. Allyn of Language Company, 6th Edition, 2000.

Tomasello, Michael. Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language acquisition. Harvard University Press, EEUU, 2003.

Tomasello, Michael. Acquiring Linguistic Construction. 2006.
http://email.eva.mpg.de/~tomas/pdf/Mussen_chap_proofs.pdf

Wong Kwok Shing, Richard. Enhancing English among Second Language Learners: The preschool Years. Early Years: Journal of International Research and
Development. Volume 26. Number 3, October 2006, pp. 279-293 (15)

Zaro Juan Jesús & Sagrario Salaberr. Introductory Chapter to Storytelling. Handbooks for the English Classroom. 1998
www.the-bus-stop.net/Training/Storytellingenglish.pdf


Other Online Resources:

www.brainwonders.zerotothree.com

www.bmcc.edu/Headstart/fun_and_Learning/index.html

www.shambles.net/pages/learning/performing/dramaless/

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/fingerplayindex.htm


Other Resources:

Curtain, Helena and Bjornstad Pesola Carol Ann. Languages and Children. Making the match. Foreign languages instruction for an early start grade K-8.
Second Edition. Longman, New York: 1994.

Fred Genesse (ed). Education Second Language Children. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994.

Patton O. Tabors and Catherine E. Snow. English as a second language in preschool programs.

Hamayan, Else. Language development of low-literacy students.

Hudelson, Sarah. Literacy development of second language children.

Met, Mimi. Teaching content through a second language.


Secondary Readings:

Arnold, Jane. La dimensión afectiva en el aprendizaje de idiomas. Cambridge, University Press 1999, 2001.

Bialystok, Ellen (ed.) Language Processing in Bilingual Children. Cambridge University Press, 1991

Bialystok, Ellen. Bilingualism in development. Language. Literacy and Cognition. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Ellis, Rod. The Study of Second Language Acquisition, Oxford University Press. Fifth impression 1997.1990.

Gadino, Alfredo La construcción del pensamiento reflexivo. Procedimientos para aprender a razonar. Homo Sapiens Ediciones, 1998.

Gibbons, Pauline. Classroom talk and the learning of new registers in second language. Division of Language and Literacy, Faculty of Education, University
of Technology, Sidney, Australia, 1996.

Halliday, M.A.K. Learning How To Mean. Explorations in the Development of Languages, 1975.

Hamers Josiane F.and Blanc Michael H.A. Bilinguality and Bilingualism. CUP 1989, 2000.

Lambros, Ann. Problem-based learning in K – 8 classrooms. A teacher’s guide to implementation. Corwin Press, California, 2002.



PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE CHILE*